Fourteen Sandwich Recipes for Stellar Lunches

There’s a reason sandwiches are a lunchtime staple: at their most basic they’re affordable, filling, swift to assemble and easily transportable.

While we’re all for a slapdash sanga – classics like Vegemite and butter or ham and cheese – big-name chefs have been weighing in for years now and adding plenty of pizzazz. Here are 14 of their best sandwich recipes, spanning fried chicken stunners, the “ultimate deli sandwich”, Filipino spins on a classic and more, from chefs including Tony Tan, Matty Matheson and Andrew McConnell.

Roti john is a street-food sandwich popular in Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia – and we can see why it’s crossed borders. It’s a spicy amalgam of minced beef or chicken with eggs piled onto French bread and then fried. So far, so good – but then it’s pepped up with chilli, garam masala and coriander. Here, Asian-cooking authority Tony Tan shows you how to make this top-tier sarnie at home.

The club is a hotel classic – but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth having a rock-solid recipe for replicating it at home. This version, by Billy Hannigan, executive chef of Sydney’s The Charles, ticks all the boxes – chicken, bacon, a little salad, a good amount of mayo – but gets a fine-dining twist thanks to the use of a whole chicken you’ll roast at home.

In recent years, the fried chicken sandwich has become a staple in any sandwich-lover’s rotation. And for any self-respecting sanga fan in Melbourne, Meatsmith’s take has been a regular in that roster. It’s crunchy on the outside, juicy in the middle and piled onto a plump, soft and sweet potato roll. And now you can recreate it at home.

Anyone can whack a bunch of cured meats between some bread and call it a deli sandwich. But layer the right meats together with a few extra accoutrements and you’ll have made something special. Here, Neil Perry shows how to drape those deli meats with a few extras to prove not all deli meat sandwiches are created equal.

Boisterous Canadian chef and star of The Bear Matty Matheson calls this “the perfect sandwich”. It requires three meats, one type of cheese, a couple of chillis and some vinegar to cut through it all – and you’ll need two hands to lift it to your mouth. It ain’t an everyday sandwich, but it’ll certainly liven up a particularly dreary work week.

If an everyday sandwich is what you require, the latest Broadsheet cookbook has just the thing: Morning Market’s salad sandwich. Unlike many in this collection, you won’t need a nap afterwards; it’s just a good old Aussie salad sanga, beetroot and alfalfa sprouts included.

There’s no rule that says sandwiches must be savoury – so if you’re craving a sweet snack, why not make it of the sarnie variety? This recipe from Melbourne bakery Holy Sugar evolves French toast into sandwich form, enveloping berry compote in bread and creating a brûlée exterior for a texture bomb inside and out.

Roast chicken sandwiches are a classic of the genre – so why not make it even better by bringing Filipino flavours into the mix? This tangy, salty, spicy, sweet version is marinated in a citrus base that’s given extra zip with lemongrass, garlic and ginger. Even more punch is brought into the mix with a green papaya pickle and a chilli and citrus aioli. We promise it’s worth the marinating time.

We’re not claiming sandwiches can do everything – but this one can cure a hangover. From celebrated Spanish chef Jose Pizzaro, it’s a take on a beloved Madrid bar dish. Deep-fried calamari is piled onto a crusty baguette with a smear of aioli. (And if your hangover’s killed all motivation or culinary abilities, we won’t judge if you pick up the calamari from your closest chippy.)

Want a bit more umami in your fried chicken sandwich than what you’re getting from Meatsmith’s version? Welcome Warkop’s take into your recipe repertoire. It offers an umami thwack thanks to a good amount of black garlic in its mayo, plus earns a bit of crunch via pickled kohlrabi and panko crumbs.

Condiments are king in this fish sandwich, which packs a heap of tropical flavour. There’s a spicy habanero pickle sauce and a pineapple aioli, which both add a tropical tang to the sanga. It’ll take a little time and effort, but the payoff is worth it.

Sandwiches are typically a solitary pursuit – but not these cheesy bundles. The recipe makes four, so you can share with friends. (Though you probably won’t want to stop at one.) In classic Mitch Orr (Sydney’s Kiln) fashion, “high” meets “low” in this recipe – aka Wonder White meets buffalo mozzarella and a snazzy condiment, plus a few cheffy flourishes.

What is a collection of sandwich recipes without a Reuben? Melbourne’s Pope Joan may have closed a while back, but before it shut up shop it left us with a parting gift: its crowd-pleasing Reuben recipe. It doesn’t stray too far from tradition: pastrami, Russian mayo, cheese and kraut coalesce into an oldie, but a goodie.